A Dozen Dates

by Sarah Hadley Brook

Carter has a great life. He excels at his job, he’s close to his sister, and he has an amazing best friend. There’s just one teeny-tiny problem: he’s in love with his best friend, who just happens to be his roommate. It doesn’t help that Greg has a habit of sticking as close to Carter as possible.

But Carter has a plan to fix everything. He signed up for a speed-dating event where he’ll talk to a dozen men in one night. If he can meet someone, he can stop worrying about blurting out his feelings to Greg and possibly losing his best friend. It’s a solid plan. Twelve men. He just has to convince his heart.

Genres: M M Romance

54 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 2, 2022

About the author

Sarah Hadley Brook lives smack-dab in the middle of the Heartland and is the mother of two wonderful young men, as well as two cats. During the day, she works in the nonprofit world, but reserves evenings for her hobby-turned-passion of writing, letting the characters she conjures up in her mind take the lead and show her where the story will go. When not working or writing, she can be found reading, working on dollhouses, trying her hand at new recipes, or watching old movies and musicals. In her ideal world, Christmas would come at least twice a year, Rock Hudson and Doris Day would have co-starred in more than three movies, and chocolate would be a daily necessity to live. She dreams of traveling to Scotland some day and visiting the places her ancestors lived. Sarah believes in “Happily Ever After” and strives to ensure her characters find their own happiness in love and life.

Reviews

[BeckieLouLou · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute, tiny 54 page snack size novella, best friends to lovers, roommates to lovers.

[Shelba · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was cute, but just okay. It had the potential of a 3-star read for me, but the author was too heavy handed with Carter noticing his best friend may actually have feelings for him too… and very repetitive about it as well. I would have loved if Carter was completely oblivious to it up until the dates. Instead, from the very beginning, he notices heated looks, and appreciative comments, only to dismiss them in the next breath.

[Joyfully Jay · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Joyfully Jay review.

4.75 stars

This story is short, sweet, and hits all the right notes for a feel good story. Carter has valid reasons for being worried about admitting his feelings. Even though Greg is affectionate and takes care of him, it’s always been that way between them and Carter can’t see the depth of Greg’s feelings. Worried about losing his best friend, Carter keeps it all to himself.

As the story is told solely from Carter’s POV, the reader sees all their interactions from Carter’s perspective. But even as an outsider looking in, it’s clear that Greg loves Carter as much as Carter loves him. There’s no real angst here, and each chapter builds to knowing the MCs will get their HEA. Even the lack of communication between both MCs felt real and understandable.

Read Kris’ review in its entirety here.

[DJO · Rating 2 out of 5]

Finished this a week ago and blah, can barely remember it. It was cute I guess but too short and I couldn’t buy into the fact that the one MC didn’t know the other one had feelings for him. The author made it clear as day. Unrealistic that he didn’t clue in with how heavily the author drove it home.

[J · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was about two roommates who obviously really liked each other but never told each other that. So one of the roommates signs up with a speed dating service to try and find himself a perfect mate. I think it was so obvious from the very beginning of the book as to how it was going to end that it was hard to really get into it.

[Maureen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really touching but also slightly amusing short story proving that you should never listen to your sister for romantic advice, speed dating is a bad idea, and to look closer to home.